Officials Hope New Games Will Attract Players

Vicki Abt, a sociology professor at Pennsylvania State University's Ogontz campus, and long-time lottery critic, argues the answer is D.

The lottery "is probably the most heavily marketed product in Pennsylvania," says Abt, who is also a board member of the New York-based National Council on Problem Gambling and is book review editor for its publication, "Journal of Gambling Behavior."

A decade ago, lottery officials across the United States were talking about "supplying a pre-existing, indigenous market," Abt says. "That was fine until they saturated the market and wanted to maintain growth."

These days, lottery officials across the country are targeting middle and upper-middle class players, Abt says.

In Pennsylvania, marketers are targeting people who have never played the lottery, or who played the legal games of chance at one time, but no longer do, according to Jim Scroggins, the state lottery executive director.

Players 18 and over buy between $27 million and $30 million worth of lottery tickets each week, according to state lottery officials. Total sales last year topped $1.5 billion.

Of particular interest to state lottery officials are the so-called instant games. Two instant games are now on sale at on-line lottery outlets and elsewhere. Within the next few months, as many as four separate instant games may be available, each one with a different theme, according to Scroggins. Past instant games have included themes related to seasonal sports, like baseball, or card games.

"Our idea is to have a mix of games, so that rather than saying to the player, `Buy what I have available now,' they can actually choose," says Scroggins. "Everybody can have something that piques that impulse. Other states have been very successful with this."

The new instant games are more than strictly marketing.

Player interest in instant games usually is high for four or five weeks, but then interest drops. Scroggins says lottery players are typically wary of playing an instant game that has been on the market too long, fearing all the prizes already have been won.

Lottery officials, working with the private corporations that actually print and design the instant games, take steps to seed the prizes, or to ensure that they are spread out over the life of the instant game, Scroggins says.

In the past, instant games have been offered for as long as six months. The change, effectively shortening the time an instant game is available to the public, is part of the lottery's more aggressive marketing campaign, says lottery spokesman Mark Schreiber.

Instant games are also sold at places where on-line lottery tickets are not normally available. Increasing the number of instant games is another way to keep people aware of the lottery, says Schreiber.

But the instant games exhibit some of the worst characteristics of the lottery in general, says Abt.

The lottery is "superstition-oriented," says Abt. Unlike betting on horses at state race tracks, "knowledge is not a factor. The only thing a player can do is get more superstitious or buy more tickets," Abt says.

And, in the end, state lottery officials hope players or potential players will buy more tickets. Superstitions are optional.